Update on the persecution of the rule of law and attacks on civil society in Poland

04 June 2018

1. The latest statement (31 May 2018) of the Conference of Ambassadors of the Republic of Poland: Violating the Principle of the Rule of Law Weakens Poland's Position in the World (Annex No. 6).

2. The last report of the Citizens of the Republic of Poland (Obywatele RP) collecting data on repressive proceedings against pro-democratic protesters in Poland (Annex No. 2).

3. Information on the recent victory of the Open Dialog Foundation in the dispute with the Minister of Foreign Affairs regarding court's refusal to establish a board of trustees (and thus replacing our current Management Board)” (Annex No. 3) together with the court's decision (Annex No. 4).At this point, it is worth noting that recently another NGO, associated with Obywatele RP - Foundation Free Citizens of the Republic of Poland, also fell victim to a similar attack. Wojciech Maziarski, a Gazeta Wyborcza's publicist comments these moves against Polish NGOs in his latest column (Annex No. 5)

4. Our summary of attacks on Polish civil society (Annex 1) by governmental administration bodies due to their objection to the anti-constitutional judicial reform and involvement in peaceful protests; we hope it will be a vital introductory information.5. A report on the collapse of the rule of law in Poland published by the Forum of the Batory Foundation and the European Stability Initiative written by Piotr Buras (the head of the European Council Office on Foreign Relations) and Gerald Knaus (the head of the European Stability Initiative in Berlin). The authors show how serious for Poland and the European Union will be the consequences of the politicization of courts in Poland, which is the result of reforms of the justice sector carried out by Law and Justice party (Annex No. 7); we think it is a very good summary of this topic.